


Honor And Glory and After

by MrThirst



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Minor Character Death, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 10:50:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12629376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrThirst/pseuds/MrThirst
Summary: Character study about Reinhardt after Eichenwalde and some brief encounters at Overwatch.





	Honor And Glory and After

The battle at Eichenwalde had not ended in victory. Reinhardt brought the remainder of his unit out of the city, but their survival was all they had won. They were able to travel to safety, back to Stuttgart.  It passed in a daze, and even decades later he could not recall the first few days back in Stuttgart without Balderich. All he remembered were hours spent alone in his room, staring blankly at the Overwatch medallion. At some point, something in his brain just  _ clicked _ and he packed his things. He would go to Overwatch. He would tell them what had happened to Balderich von Adler. He would offer himself up in Balderich's stead. He owed the man more than he could ever pay back, but perhaps this would be a good step one.

When Reinhardt arrived, he was instructed to talk to a woman; one Ana Amari. He was told she would take his statement. He'd heard some of Overwatch, had researched it on his way to Switzerland. He knew who she was. He was led to her office and asked to sit and wait. He took one of two chairs in front of her desk. There were only two pictures on her desk: one of her with a young girl and a man whose face was obscured by the way the photo was folded over in the frame, and one with Ana and two men around her age: Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes.   
She entered the room and he was struck by her presence. There was no question who was the bigger person in the room, regardless of the solid two feet he would tower over her when standing.    
"So, you are here about Balderich," she said, settling into the second chair in front of her desk. He'd expected her to take the more comfortable one, behind the desk.

"Yes," he answered.   
"We were sad to hear of his passing," she told him, patting his forearm. "I'm sorry for your loss."   
He swallowed the lump in his throat and ignored the drop of his stomach. He had not come here to mourn.   
"He was asked to join Overwatch," Reinhardt said, producing the medallion from his pocket. She glanced at it briefly before looking back at him. "He was unable to do so. He spoke highly of the honor of joining. If there is still a spot open for a Crusader, I would like to offer my services for the position in his stead."   
She watched him thoughtfully for a few moments. Then she smiled and stood, putting both her hands on his shoulders. She spoke in a low voice in a language Reinhardt could not understand. Perhaps she was praying.    
"I will inform Commander Morrison of your request. We can prepare a room for you to stay here at least until we get your information entered for consideration."   
Reinhardt stood as well, confused by a flash of something in Ana's eyes as she took in his size. "Thank you for your consideration, Captain Amari."   
She laughed, holding out a hand for him to shake. "I look forward to working with you, Reinhardt."

\------------   
Overwatch was not what he had been expecting. It was similar to the military, even to the Crusaders, yet somehow managed to maintain a weirdly casual atmosphere in the base. He couldn't quite pinpoint what made it feel that way. Perhaps he was just unused to the soldiers bringing their families along with them. Perhaps he was just new enough to be grouped with younger recruits.    
Still, he found he rather liked it. He enjoyed playing with and helping babysit Ana's daughter. Fareeha always loved spending time with him. She always wanted to climb his shoulders.   
"It makes me feel like I'm flying!" She said excitedly, putting uneven braids through his hair from her perch. "It's so fun to be so high!"   
She loved stories about the Crusaders. She loved any story with a sense of a good hero. The first time he'd carried her, sleeping, to bed, he'd been startled by a poster of himself on her wall. He'd stared for several minutes, where he was found by Ana.    
"She begged for one when she saw it," Ana said from the doorway. He'd started and almost dropped the child. "She thinks the world of you. Said she wants to be a hero like you."   
He was touched, and loved Fareeha more at that moment than he'd ever thought possible. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider having children of his own... Setting her down, he moved away so Ana could move closer. He watched from the doorway as Ana kissed Fareeha's forehead. The girl stirred and they whispered to one another.   
"Good night, mama," Fareeha yawned. "Stay safe tonight."   
Then again... perhaps it was better not to have someone to worry...   
He got along well with their grumpy mechanic. Torbjorn was a huffy fellow, and by far the shortest adult Reinhardt had ever met, but after a short while Reinhardt realized the Swede never meant his jabs to be cruel. They swapped stories and drank together often. Had he been from Germany, Reinhardt was sure Torbjorn could have been quite a Crusader.

Jack Morrison was more hands-on than Reinhardt had expected when they'd first met. He was friendly in a political, practiced sort of way that hadn't given the same warmth as some of the others. Reinhardt assumed he was in command so young because he'd wanted the power, wanted the control. The more time they spent together, the more Reinhardt felt guilty for such a first impression.   
Jack wasn't extremely good at conveying his feelings. His opinions were locked behind layers of faux diplomacy a mile thick and only seemed to come out easily around Gabriel or Ana. Though, as the months passed and Reinhardt proved to be popular, helpful, and a solid fit for the team, Jack warmed up to him as well. He was an excellent friend to have whenever it came to finding solutions for problems. His tactical skills came in handy for personal issues as well as battle plans.   
Gabriel Reyes never seemed to stop smiling. He always seemed slightly amused by everything. Much warmer than Jack, whom he seemed to be quite close with (best friends, Jack said, from their training program, though Reinhardt suspected more almost immediately.) Gabriel was always welcoming of Reinhardt. Like Ana, one of their first interactions included Gabriel's condolences for the lost of Balderich.    
"I always wanted to meet him," Gabriel told him. "When I first heard of the Crusaders, I thought it was crazy to have a bunch of knights running around Europe again, but... Learning more... He sounds like one hell of a commander. I was glad he'd accepted our request."   
Reinhardt nodded slowly, the loss of his dear friend still an open wound across his heart. And here he was; a second-hand replacement.   
"Still, I'm glad you're here."   
Gabriel had walked away before giving Reinhardt a chance to ask why he thought so.

Ana Amari was unlike any woman Reinhardt had ever met. There was something about her that drew people to her like a magnet, and Reinhardt was no better able to resist. She was the one who showed him around, who introduced him to everyone. She challenged him to spar and managed to win a round. She could see through everyone in a way Reinhardt had never seen. She even taught him how to shoot, though he never got anywhere near her level.    
"You could shoot me dead while charging," he had laughed.   
"While blindfolded," she smirked, reloading and handing him the rifle they'd been sharing for practice, "you make an awful racket when you fight."   
She teased him horribly about everything from his fighting, to his armor, to his accent, to his hair.   
"You should really get a haircut," she laughed in a locker room after they'd been working out, tugging hard on his ponytail.   
She was not the first person he had slept with by a longshot, not even the first teammate. But she was the first woman who had ever pushed him on his knees and controlled him as if they were physically equal. He never said no when she came around, but never figured out a way to ask for it on his own.   
She ended up involved more seriously with Gabriel and Jack than she'd been with Reinhardt. Which was fine. Reinhardt himself started up with Torbjorn. Ana remained his closest friend and he loved her and her daughter like his own family.

He met Winston and was... surprised. A gorilla. From the moon. Such an idea seemed preposterous, thinking back on his childhood. As a young boy he never would have believed it. Still, he'd known about Horizon Lunar Colony. It had been all over the news when it was established successfully. But he'd never heard about the talking, scientist gorillas. Still, Winston was a delight to listen to, even if Reinhardt didn't always understand the exact technicalities of whatever Winston was trying to explain to him. It was fun to watch him get enthusiastic. And, without a doubt, Winston was a genius.    
Lena, Winston's best friend on the team, was the newest member. She hadn't joined long ago, and even without the fact that he'd helped stabilize her in one time, she loved Winston. The pair were hardly ever apart unless Winston was buried deep in his lab. Even then, Lena had been known to bring blankets and a pillow and camp on a couch he had in the lab. Reinhardt was always amused to watch them together.

The medical staff wasn't quite as large as Reinhardt would have expected for such a group. Though, as he was told after he voiced his confusion to Gabriel, each base had its own staff of roughly the same size. It worked out well enough, he said, so Reinhardt had let it drop.   
Angela was the one Reinhardt was sent to most. She was young, in medical school, and borderline aggressive with her practice. Absolutely no tolerance for messing about or ignoring her orders. Reinhardt was quite certain she wouldn't think twice about shooting him in the foot to keep him in bed if she had to-- before healing that wound as well.  She was friendly with everyone, and until Jesse arrived, didn't seem to be particularly close with anyone. Even then, though she was with Jesse often, Reinhardt only ever heard them talk about Gabriel.

Jesse was... an interesting boy, in Reinhardt's opinion when he had first showed up. Young and foolhardy, he had a stubborn streak a mile long. He was hardheaded and had a problem with authority. Yet Gabriel kept him. He swore more than Reinhardt had ever heard a single person swear.   
Until Gabriel sent him to the firing range with Ana. Jesse had been boasting about his own skill, annoyed at having to go to the practice range.   
He'd come back quiet, and never behaved the same way again. He made an effort not to swear around Fareeha, who it was obvious he had a soft spot for. He'd called her 'sister' once and, though he'd been embarrassed, she had lit up immediately and called him 'bro' for weeks. He blushed every time, but always grinned.    
Jesse always worked hard to make sure Gabriel knew how grateful he  _ really _ was for the chance to start again. Reinhardt didn't know about the Deadlock Gang until Jesse explained the tattoo on his left forearm. Reinhardt had joined the Crusaders as young as he was able. Jesse McCree had been killing people much younger than Reinhardt had.    
Still, as he stayed longer, Jesse's rough first personality was replaced by a much warmer one. He told Reinhardt once he wanted to try his hammer. He hadn't even been able to lift it. Reinhardt had laughed himself to tears.

Jesse's partner on many of the secretive missions Gabriel sent him on with Blackwatch was an even younger boy called Genji Shimada. His family was, Reinhardt gathered, of some significance in Japan, but that was a country Reinhardt knew very little about other than the two or three brief missions he'd taken there. While Jesse's nerves had made him outwardly aggressive, Genji was quiet. He hardly spoke at all and Reinhardt never heard him laugh. He was silent as he moved, despite the large portion of his body that was made up of metal. Reinhardt hadn't been entirely sure he wanted to hear the story behind the cybernetics. He wasn't sure how many people knew. He didn't ask.   
One  sleepless night, Reinhardt was sitting on a balcony watching the moon, full and bright behind wispy clouds. Genji crept out onto the veranda as well, sitting in the chair beside Reinhardt's before the older man even knew he was there. After hours of silence, Genji spoke.   
"You fought in Germany."   
"I did," Reinhardt confirmed.   
"Your commander died in the last battle you fought."   
The blunt words tugged hard at the decades old wound. "He did."   
"That battle wasn't a success, was it?"   
Reinhardt looked at his companion rather than the moon. "It was not."   
"Why do you still joke so much?" Genji asked, fists balled, as he finally got around to the point of his questioning. "What gives you all this confidence in spite of such a tremendous failure?"

Reinhardt raised his eyebrows. Genji averted his gaze, but did not back down. Reinhardt wondered if he'd been psyching himself up for the conversation.   
"Failure is not the end of everything," Reinhardt answered slowly after  a pause. "I will never forget my commander, or that it was not a successful mission-- nor any unsuccessful mission since. Still, it was he who died and not me. If I let everything I have ever done wrong in my life weigh me down at every point, I would simply crumble. I have lived a long time and have made many mistakes. It's important to move on as well as I can."   
There was silence again for a long while. Reinhardt turned back to the moon. He had almost forgotten Genji was still with him when the man spoke again.   
"You're a good man, Reinhardt. I am glad to have met you, and to have seen you in combat." Then he got up and vanished. It was the longest conversation Reinhardt had with him before things began to fall apart. Before Genji vanished to the mountains in Nepal. Before Overwatch forced Reinhardt out of active duty.

Before the base had been destroyed. Before three of Reinhardt's closest friends lost their lives. Before everything Reinhardt had dedicated his life to had crumbled into ash.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I was really overwhelmed by the 'Honor and Glory' short. I thought it was incredible and I really, really loved it. So this is a bit of a mess that I was typing out as quickly as I could. It's not part of my NaNo project but I'm counting it anyway because it's longer than I expected.
> 
> I briefly referenced an Anahardt comic that I adored: https://twitter.com/Vimeddiee/status/856283756092694531
> 
> There's a lot of little stuff included based on how I view the characters and how they'll be written in my future projects.
> 
> If you were curious about other works: On the Way chapter 10 is, well, on the way. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I apologize for the delay!
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!  
> mrthirst@tumblr


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